Living a healthier lifestyle means changing everything you do, from the food you eat and your sleeping habits, to the amount of sleep you get and the physical activity that you do. Getting ripped is a goal you can only achieve by working hard and staying focused. For those who are beginners, starting blind is hard to do, so it would be good to have some guidance.

Among the most popular plans to achieve the ideal body is to follow the Arnold Schwarzenegger bodybuilding rules for gaining mass and staying ripped. The former Mr. Universe and seven-time Mr. Olympia is not just a Hollywood icon – his bodybuilding advice is also valued in the world of physical fitness. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s biography, Total Recall, which was published in October 2012 had a chapter dedicated entirely to bodybuilding – strong evidence of how much he values his ripped physique.

For those who are interested in putting in some effort to achieve the body that “The Austrian Oak,” did, here are some 18 Arnold Schwarzenegger workout and nutrition tips that could help you in your journey.

1. Seek Out Knowledge: Cutting Edge Information on Nutrition Can Change Your Life

Where bodybuilding is concerned, it is not all about pumping iron. Exercise alone will not be the key to looking buff, it is also important to make sure that you are getting the proper nutrition. This means that you have to brush up on your knowledge of nutrition and it should surpass what most people know about nutrition.

If you are not too keen on uncovering how the body makes use of its food, then brushing up on college-grade nutrition facts would be useful. By understanding nutritional science, it would be easier to weed out real facts. Learning as much as you can about nutrition won’t just enrich your mind. It could also be the key to getting the kind of body that you want.

2. Focus on Diet: How You Eat Affects How Your Body Looks

Eating more often is a common tidbit of advice that nutritionists give, and Schwarzenegger agrees with them. Based on his nutritional plan, those who are following the Arnold Schwarzenegger bodybuilding workout should eat five to six times a day. Spacing your meals this way improve your metabolic rate and it burns more calories than sticking to three big meals.

There is no hard evidence to support that six meals a day is the magic number; however, there is a study proving that spacing meals could improve the body’s calorie burning ability.

For weight watchers, eating the egg yolk may be one of the prohibitions but if you are building muscles, this should not apply to you. Unless you have high cholesterol, you should not trash the egg yolk since this happens to be the tastiest part of the egg.

At the same time, the amount of protein in the egg yolk is almost the same as the egg white’s protein content.

If your main concern is the fat in your diet, you are better off eliminating other items in your diet. Egg, in general, is one of the best protein sources. So, it would be best to make the most of it.

4. Make Better Choices: Stop Choosing Products Because They Claim to Have Little to No Fat Content

If there is one thing you should know by now, it’s the reality that labels don’t tell the entire story. This is the same philosophy that you should stick to when it comes to nutrition. You need to focus on the nutritional content not on what the marketing propaganda wants you to believe.

This means that you should stop believing all products that claim to be fat-free. Almost all kinds of processed food will contain fat and if you do not know this by now, you might not be getting enough nutrition. When you are trying to achieve the ideal body type, you need a balanced diet, not one which is low in fat. Aside from that, most products posing to be devoid of fat are full of sugar which is the last thing that you want.

5. Protein Pointers: Put Your Nutritional Priorities in Order

When you are training to be a bodybuilder, you need to prioritize your protein intake. You can never compromise on the amount of protein that you consume on a daily basis.

You need to focus on your daily protein requirement and not on what you are hungry for and you need to stick to that requirement if you want to see improvements in your physique.

Egg, chicken, and fish are the primary sources of protein, and you should try to stick to these items as much as you can.

6. Getting Enough: You Need to Do the Math to Know the Amount of Protein You Need

Protein is an essential part of your diet and you should know that by now. However, making sure that you are eating enough protein is not enough, you need to quantify the amount of protein that you are consuming and stick to the right portions. With so many standards as to the right amount of protein, who should you believe?

The best standard would be to eat one gram of protein for every pound. Although there are different schools of thought when it comes to this issue, the Arnold Schwarzenegger bodybuilding diet suggests eating this amount of protein since it is simpler. If you have to cut anything from your diet, make sure that protein is not one of those.

To make sure that you are getting the necessary nutrition, a recommended daily allowance or RDA was established. While this may be applicable for most members of the population, those who are expending more energy than usual will need more. This means that you should consume more vitamins and minerals than the amount that nutritionists suggest to support muscle building.

Your diet needs to change as your lifestyle is becoming more demanding. If your body is not getting sufficient amounts of nutrition, you could suffer from certain nutritional deficiencies. If you want to meet these requirements, there’s one easy way to accomplish your goal –load up on vitamins and minerals.

While you can try HGH releasers like Genf20Plus or testosterone supplements like TestRX, it is necessary to consult your doctor first. It is always better to be safe than sorry especially if you are taking other medicines on a regular basis.

People with a sweet tooth would need to make many sacrifices if they want to see results from heavy lifting. Among the basic things that you have to give up is your fondness for sugary treats. If you continue eating food that is full of sugar, you will gain weight and lose the necessary energy needed for strenuous exercise routines.

Given this issue, you need to stop consuming food that is high one sugar. Processed food is one of the first things that you have to eliminate in your diet but there are also some fruits that are high in sugar and you need to avoid these too. Keeping a balanced diet is a must especially when you want to have a bodybuilder’s physique.

9. Eat Smart: Large Food Portions are Good for Protein Sources But Not for Dessert

Sugar is your enemy. If you have to eat a large meal, make sure that it is a huge portion of steak or chicken not of pudding or a box of doughnuts. If you are training for a competition or anything of that sort, you need to stick to lean portions and avoid sweets.

As stated above, the first thing that you want to cut out of your diet is sugar. Sugary foods are empty calories and even if you are eating, you get hungry easily. If you want to focus on building a good physique, then you should get used to bland and boring food.

10. Be A Picky Eater: Food is a Fundamental Factor in Achieving Bodybuilding Goals

Are you interested in achieving Arnold Schwarzenegger bodybuilding stats or at least, come close to it? Then, you should start minding your diet and be wiser when it comes to choosing where your nutrition comes from. For a bodybuilder, the recommended amount of calories is 4,000, this is higher than normal. However, keep in mind that you need maximum muscle power and to do that, you need proper nutrition from foods that will keep you full longer.

No exercise can surpass a diet full of processed meals. Hence, it is a good idea to stick to clean and healthy food while you are training.

11. Know Your Portions: Be a Master in telling Caloric Value Based on Appearances

Measuring the amount of food that you are eating can be tedious. Of course, there are apps for that and you can always follow a strict meal plan to make sure that you are meeting your goals. However, this step may not be practical especially when you are on the go.

If you want an easier way to stick to your diet, you need to know how much calories and protein are in your food by just looking at it. You are not required to know the calories in every meal you eat but know the nutritional content of the most common foods that you consume. This way it would be easier to stick to a diet.

Recovery drinks are not just marketed to add profit to businesses. It is there because it matters. If you are training, you need to help your muscles and the best way to do this is to eat after your workout. This will help replenish the body’s glycogen stores and you need to make sure that it is rich in protein.

Having the right eating practices right after your workout could help you stay energetic for the rest of the day. Plus, the release of insulin could help make muscle building more effective.

13. Squats: How to Perform the “King of All Exercises” Correctly

For those who are aspiring to be weight lifters, it would not be surprising if you browse through Arnold Schwarzenegger bodybuilding pictures. In fact, you can use these images as the picture of your goal. With the long and hard road ahead of you, you will need all the inspiration you can get. Among the first things you need to know when following Arnold Schwarzenegger’s workout is the squat.

Most people know what the squat is and how to perform it but few are doing it correctly. Performing this exercise correctly is hard, so if you just breeze through this exercise without feeling too much muscle strain, you are doing it wrong.

Proper form is a must in squats and beginners should opt for 3 to 4 sets of 6 to 8 reps first. Doing wall squats or facing the wall while performing the exercise is a good way to learn the proper form. If any part of your body gets in contact with the wall, you will know right away that your form is off.

14. Bench Exercises: Hitting the Bench is Crucial in Building Muscles

For someone who wants to follow the Arnold Schwarzenegger bodybuilding workout, you should know that the man did a fair share of bench presses. There are different schools of thought when it comes to the best way to do a bench press. Bear in mind that you need to do follow a routine that will help you achieve your goals.

Since bodybuilders don’t just focus on bulking up and they also want to look appealing, they often perform moderate reps of different bench press forms. For those who are interested in following Arnold Schwarzenegger’s routine, here’s a quick breakdown of his bench press routines:

Bench Press: Do five sets with 12, 10, eight, eight, and six reps each.

Inclined Dumbbell Press: Do four sets with eight to 10 reps

Dumbbell Fly: Do four sets with eight to 10 reps

15. Doing Deadlifts: Make a Statement and Build Muscle by Lifting Weights

While squats may be the most popular and effective routing in targeting multiple muscles in the body there is no denying that deadlifts share a piece of the spotlight. Some bodybuilding enthusiasts even prefer this exercise compared to squats because they won’t have to bother about a lot of rules. Although lifting as much weight as you want seems effective for some, this can cause injuries in the future.

Schwarzenegger’s deadlift is 710 pounds. While this may seem reachable, you should never try to go for it right away and focus on building your strength first. Otherwise, you might cause an injury to your muscles.

There are two techniques when it comes to deadlifts: the touch-and-go and the static deadlift. The touch-and-go is where you do one rep after the other. Here, you can’t take a break between each rep until the set is over. Meanwhile, the static deadlift is where you perform a rep as if it was one set and there is a resting time between each one.

16. Sunday is Rest Day: Set Time to Allow Your Body to Recover

Training for a competition or for an event is hard work. It is not easy to put your body through so much on a daily basis. Even if you have recovery drinks and you are sticking to the right meal plan, your body still needs time to recover. This is why it is vital to set a day of rest every week.

Most workout plans have a rest day and this is for good reason and not because you are slacking off. If you train too hard, you will not achieve the goals because your body has no time to recover. If you plan to train hard from Monday to Saturday, make sure that Sunday is your rest day.

17. Stick to a Schedule That Works: Train Different Muscle Groups Twice a Week

If you have been watching Arnold Schwarzenegger bodybuilding videos, you are probably in awe of how the man could achieve the kind of body that he has. It will require a lot of hard work but it also depends on how you exercise. From his book Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding, the actor reveals that he trains each muscle group twice a week.

For those who are not too familiar with how a scheduling like this works, it’s all about grouping exercise routines based on the muscle groups they are targeting. In Schwarzenegger’s routine, for instance, Mondays and Thursdays are reserved for exercises targeting the chest, abs and back. His Tuesdays and Fridays are dedicated to shoulder and arm exercises while Wednesdays and Saturdays focus on leg routines.

18. Mind Over Matter: Failure is Not an Option

For anyone who is struggling to achieve their goals in the gym, there are some witty Arnold Schwarzenegger bodybuilding quotes that could guide you on your journey. When it comes to building muscle, the legendary bodybuilder believes that resistance “physically in the gym and the resistance that you fight in life can only build a strong character.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger, bodybuilding expert, actor, and politician, knows the proper way to work the muscles from his own experience. Anyone who is hitting the gym could take some inspiration from what he achieved. While not everyone can have the body he did, any bodybuilder can set targets and achieve them one by one.